Henry Bérenger was a French poet, novelist, essayist and politician. An influential Senator, he was actively involved in French politics from 1912 to 1945.
Bérenger published studies of Ernest Lavisse, Victor Hugo and Édouard Schuré. In the 1890s he published poems inspired by Gabriele D’Annunzio in the journals l’Ermitage and La Conque. He wrote frequently in La Dépêche de Toulouse, Revue des deux Mondes and the Revue de Paris. He was the editor of Actualités, Le Siècle and Paris-Midi and founded the journal L’Action and with Gratien Candace, the newspaper Colonies et Marine.
Bérenger was the author of three collections of poetry: L’ame moderne/Modern Love (1892), Paroles d’Amérique / Lyrics of America (1926), and Des relativités aux métamorphoses: Poésies philosophiques, 1886–1949/Relativities metamorphoses: Philosophical Poems, 1886-1949(1949); and the novels: L’effort/The Effort (1892), and La proie/The Prey (1897). His non-fiction works include the controversial L’Aristocratie intellectuelle/The Intellectual Aristocracy (1895), Les Prolétaires intellectuels en France/Proletarian Intellectuals in France (1901), L’Héritage de Victor Hugo et la Renaissance française/The Legacy of Victor Hugo and the French Renaissance (1902), La politique du pétrole/The Politics of Oil (1919), Le Pétrole et la France/Oil and France (1920) and Franco-American Relations (1927).
He lived in this house from 1926 to 1927 as the French ambassador to the United States.
The Homes
2460 16th St. NW, Washington, DC
This Beaux Arts mansion was owned by Sen. And Mrs. John B. Henderson, and rented to the French government as an Ambassador’s residence through 1936. The exterior is carved Indian limestone with a slate roof. The interior has an entrance hall with a marble mosaic floor, and a marble staircase with wrought iron balustrades. The second floor has a circular drawing room and oak parquetry floors. Formerly the French Embassy and the Embassy of Ghana, it now houses the Council for Professional Recognition.
Also home to: Jean Jules Jusserand Paul Claudel
Henry Berenger
2460 16th St. NW
Located in Adams Morgan neighborhood, Northwest - East of Rock Creek